<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Working backwards by artemisscribe</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127715">Working backwards</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisscribe/pseuds/artemisscribe'>artemisscribe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tenet (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, First Meetings, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, can't believe i'm the first person to post on AO3 who has seen the movie, time travel is weird</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:02:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,196</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127715</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisscribe/pseuds/artemisscribe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>So spoilers obviously, I absolutely fell in love with the reveal of Neil's recruitment and also the consequences of the Protagonist and Neil moving in opposite directions through their relationship. So of course I raced right home from the cinema to write this. <br/>Chapter One is the right way round. Chapter Two is inverted in case you're interested how that looks.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>the Protagonist/Neil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>126</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Unturned</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>You are waiting for the moment. Ever since you bit back the warning to him on that godforsaken wasteland all those years ago. But in your heart you know you will never really be ready for it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Each milestone hurts. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The first time you see him again after that day. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The first time he really starts to treat you as his partner rather than simply playing you to preserve the operational security. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was the day you realised you knew more than him now. That one stung more than you expected it to. You’re in your forties, he’s a brash young twentysomething. You’ve always seen him as a peer. Sometimes even a mentor. Sometimes other things too. He likes that. He’s drawn to it. Too young and too smart for his own good. Knowing what you know now it’s all too clear that he’s a fire burning too brightly, to be burnt out too soon, and yet exactly when fate intends it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s happened happened.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a mantra he really does live by. One you’re always careful to challenge, always afraid of the question rolling around in the back of your mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Who teaches you this nonsense?” you asks one afternoon as you wait out a four day inversion in the South China Sea</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Don’t look so concerned my friend” he grins, slapping you on the back, “You’re not responsible for every aspect of my personality. I was capable of forming independent thoughts on the nature of reality before I met you.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Soon then. You know he’s smart, but to rationalise something as complex as Tenet it can’t be too long now. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’ve known you would recruit him in England for some years now. He isn’t as good at keeping secrets as he will be when you meet him for the first time. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He is so very young now. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Your beard is grey. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You walk with a fine cane. Partly to ease the ache in your bad hip and partly because one of the privileges of being your age is they let you bring a weapon just about everywhere with you simply because they think you can’t use it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Sometimes you sit back in the comfortable chair in your house as your grandchildren play about you and smile as you think on that conversation with Sator back in Amalfi. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“How would you like to die?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Old.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You picked the wrong profession.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Your profession is to be in exactly the right place at the right time.</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>You’re getting old</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Or</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe you just make too many assumptions these days.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re not a snob. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’s always been a bit of a stereotype. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You expected Oxford or Cambridge. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re in Manchester. An ex-industrial city in the North of England. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Not the place you expected to find him at all, but the university has a very fine physics department, they’ve produced eleven Nobel Laureates. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re consulting one of the researchers. You’re funding quite a bit of research there actually. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Of course he’s involved in all of this before either of you even knows. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s happened happened</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>No wonder he’s always been so damn smug about it all. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As you leave, there he is, walking out of a lab, offensively young. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Your researcher introduces him; she’s his thesis supervisor.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He, the boy, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>child</span>
  </em>
  <span>, looks at you. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he says, “I don’t think I caught your name.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a long beat of silence between you filled with what has been and what is to come. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You lace your fingers together and rest your hands on your cane.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Tenet” you say. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He has been waiting for this moment. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Inverted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is the inverted version of the story. It's really hard to try and edit a story like this.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He has been waiting for this moment. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Tenet” you say.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You lace your fingers together and rest your hands on your cane.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a long beat of silence between you filled with what has been and what is to come. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” he says, “I don’t think I caught your name.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Your researcher introduces him; she’s his thesis supervisor.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As you leave, there he is, walking out of a lab, offensively young. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>No wonder he’s always been so damn smug about it all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s happened happened</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Of course he’s involved in all of this before either of you even knows. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re consulting one of the researchers. You’re funding quite a bit of research there actually.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Not the place you expected to find him at all, but the university has a very fine physics department, they’ve produced eleven Nobel Laureates</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re in Manchester. An ex-industrial city in the North of England.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You expected Oxford or Cambridge.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He’s always been a bit of a stereotype. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re not a snob. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe you just make too many assumptions these days.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Or</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’re getting old</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Your beard is grey. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You walk with a fine cane. Partly to ease the ache in your bad hip and partly because one of the privileges of being your age is they let you bring a weapon just about everywhere with you simply because they think you can’t use it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Sometimes you sit back in the comfortable chair in your house as your grandchildren play about you and smile as you think on that conversation with Sator back in Amalfi. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“How would you like to die?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Old.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You picked the wrong profession.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Your profession is to be in exactly the right place at the right time.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>*</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He is so very young now.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You’ve known you would recruit him in England for some years now. He isn’t as good at keeping secrets as he will be when you meet him for the first time. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Who teaches you this nonsense?” you asks one afternoon as you wait out a four day inversion in the South China Sea</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Don’t look so concerned my friend” he grins, slapping you on the back, “You’re not responsible for every aspect of my personality. I was capable of forming independent thoughts on the nature of reality before I met you.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Soon then. You know he’s smart, but to rationalise something as complex as Tenet it can’t be too long now. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>*</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a mantra he really does live by. One you’re always careful to challenge, always afraid of the question rolling around in the back of your mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s happened happened.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That was the day you realised you knew more than him now. That one stung more than you expected it to. You’re in your forties, he’s a brash young twentysomething. You’ve always seen him as a peer. Sometimes even a mentor. Sometimes other things too. He likes that. He’s drawn to it. Too young and too smart for his own good. Knowing what you know now it’s all too clear that he’s a fire burning too brightly, to be burnt out too soon, and yet exactly when fate intends it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The first time he really starts to treat you as his partner rather than simply playing you to preserve the operational security. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The first time you see him again after that day. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Each milestone hurts. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>You are waiting for the moment. Ever since you bit back the warning to him on that godforsaken wasteland all those years ago. But in your heart you know you will never really be ready for it. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>